In the co-headline bout, France’s own Zinedine Hameur-Lain (56-13, 35 KO) takes on fellow light heavyweight contender Pavel “The Caiman” Zhuravlev (69-11, 25 KO), representing Ukraine. Following an incredible performance including two knockouts and a tournament win, Hameur-Lain took home both ‘Fighter of the Night’ and ‘Knockout of the Night’ post-fight bonuses at GLORY 32 Virginia in July.

In order to determine the next contender for the GLORY heavyweight title, GLORY 35 Nice will feature a one-night, four-man tournament. In the first of two semifinal match-ups, Surinamese-Dutch Jahfarr Wilnis (29-7-1, 8 KO) meets returning Mladen “The Scorpion Sting” Brestovac (50-11-1, 33 KO) of Croatia. The other semifinal match-up will be announced at a later date, finalizing the tournament.

Russia’s Vakhitov was previously scheduled to defend his belt at GLORY 31 Amsterdam in June, but was unable to compete due to injury. Mwekassa replaced Vakhitov on the card, stepping in against Mourad Bouzidi and capturing the interim title via first-round TKO.